Is Anybody Out There?

How out of touch are Americans? Despite partial implementation of Obamacare and the continuous talk about it, public knowledge has changed little.  It appears that some prefer to walk around in a cloud of cluelessness, regardless of the impact on their life.  If there was one piece of legislation that one should be familiar, it would be Obamacare. After all, this is the largest piece and impact legislation in a LONG time.  

Gallup polled Americans regarding their knowledge and opinion of Obamacare January 31st through February 1st.  The results are not all too surprising, except the knowledge part.  The chart above shows the trend of knowledge since 2013.  It reminds me of the Geico commercial, not knowing that "a ten minute call may save you 15% or more," and making fun of people living under rocks.  After all the rhetoric, public outcries, praise and otherwise, no more people know about Obamacare than in 2013.  

It is truly a soundbite world these days.  One cannot help but notice this on all the social media. Browsing +reddit this morning, the picture to the right, received 841 votes. Meanwhile, an article about Catherine Engelbrecht's testimony regarding the IRS targeting Conservative groups received 18 during the same amount of time. Surprisingly, my previous piece, Obamacare: You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet got a whopping 38 votes. It seems that few take the time to truly understand an issue and would prefer to float along in this world in complete oblivion.  

If someone does not pay attention, does not get informed, and does not partake in the gathering of knowledge, what does this say about America?  Are we becoming so lazy that many no longer the value to express themselves in a knowledgable way?  Do these same people ignorantly cast their votes during every election cycle?  Even my own children have more knowledge about politics, history, and our country than this.  If they had been polled, they could give reasonable answers regarding Obamacare or any other major topic.  And, my children are only 9 and 11!  These are kids who play hockey, swim, and are highly social and learn from their parents and reading articles on their own accord.  To me, that is pathetic.